Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (37 page)

She remembered Quinten’s gentle hands in her hair as he held it back for her while she’d thrown up. “
You have us to rely on, no matter what.
”

If ever there were two men completely unlike the man her own father had been, it was Ben and Quinten.

A feeling of rightness settled around her as she washed her hands, and she smiled for the first time since she’s awakened nauseated. It was a knee-jerk response to be frightened, given her issues.

With business concluded, she and Heath said good-bye to Rosemary and Evan and got in the car for the return trip to Morehead. She thought about taking a minute and calling the men privately while Heath waited in the car, but she wasn’t sure she could stand in the parking lot that long without falling over. She felt light-headed, and the nausea that had been like a hard knot in her throat all day was growing increasingly hard to ignore or pacify with crackers. She thought better of calling them, opting to wait until she was back in her office with the door closed. They stopped for drive-thru, but the smell of the food in the bags made her lose her appetite. At least she didn’t feel like hurling for the moment.

They were on the outskirts of Morehead when she remembered the prescription Emma had written her for prenatal vitamins. “Can we stop by the pharmacy? I need to pick up some things.”

“Sure,” Heath replied, eyeing her occasionally as he efficiently moving through traffic. He pulled into the parking lot of a pharmacy located next to the hospital.

“I’ll be right back.”

She climbed from the car and walked into the pharmacy. After she found the prenatal vitamin that Emma had specified for her to get, she went in search of something else to help her break the news to her men that they were going to be daddies.

* * * *

Quinten dialed Heath’s number and waited as it rang before rolling to voice mail. He still hadn’t heard from Camilla. He’d just put away all the groceries he’d purchased and was walking out the door to drive to The Twisted Bull when Heath called him back.

“Sorry, Quinten. I’m in a poor cellular area. Your voice mail just came through. What’s up?”

“Is she okay?”

“She looks a little peaked. Quiet—” The line went silent for a second, and Quinten couldn’t make out all of what was said.

“Heath? You there?” Worry grew in exponential waves.

“Took her—over—the hospital—needs to go home and get some rest—” The line finally went dead.

The hospital?

“Hello? Hello, Heath?
Damn it
!”

Quinten dialed Heath’s number, and the call went straight to voice mail. He paced impatiently as the voice mail message played and he waited for the beep. “Heath, it’s me. When you get this, call me back as soon as you can. I’m headed to the hospital right now.”

Why would she visit the hospital in Morehead? She was just at the doctor. Had there been an emergency? He couldn’t draw any conclusions from that broken-up phone conversation, but it didn’t stop his mind from drawing all kinds of conclusions.

“Come on, Parks. If there was an emergency, one of the guys would’ve called us.”

But what if it’s not an emergency? What if she’s—

A wave of anguish kept him from even finishing the mental dialogue. Camilla wasn’t the type who would end her pregnancy without at least talking to them about it first. She wouldn’t do that. She was nothing like his ex-girlfriend had been. She was good on the inside and on the outside, regardless of the circumstances. But once the thought had lodged in his mind, he couldn’t stop the worry from growing. Maybe she’d gotten sick in town?

He checked his phone. No calls. He cursed softly and put his foot down on the accelerator. Debating between calling Ben or waiting, he decided finally to call him. Ben would want to know. He hit the Bluetooth and dialed his number.

“Yeah. You heard from her?” Ben sounded every bit as worried as Quinten felt.

“I called Heath, but we got cut off.”

“Where are they?”

“We had a bad connection. They’re at the hospital in Morehead.”

“
What
?”

“We had a bad connection, but it sounded like Heath was with her over at the hospital.”

“I’m heading that way now.” Ben sounded like he was running. He must’ve been at The Pony, because he called out to Ethan in the background, and Quinten could hear Ethan say something.

“I’m already in my truck. See you there.” He disconnected the call and focused on the road. He felt irrational as he thought of her dealing with a medical emergency in the frame of mind that she’d been in that morning. And the other doubt still circled in his mind, no matter how much he wanted it to go away.

Sitting at her desk, Camilla smiled as she stuck the bows on the books she’d found. The pharmacy hadn’t had what she’d needed so they’d stopped at the local bookstore. Heath had even managed to get her to eat a little of her sandwich before he’d let her get out of the car to go inside to look for the books. He’d chuckled when she’d called him a mother hen as he’d made her eat another bite. She’d reminded him not to spill anything in her new car and had walked into the store.

The food helped her feel a little better, and she wondered if coming to grips with being pregnant had eased her nerves, which in turn had somewhat settled her morning sickness.

She chuckled as she looked at the covers of the books and hoped Ben and Quinten appreciated her sense of humor. She wasn’t sure how much practical knowledge they’d glean from them, but at least they could laugh with her.

Putting her feet up on her desk, she listened as the work continued all around her. Rosemary was right. The place wouldn’t fall down around her ears. She now had the wherewithal to hire capable managers so she could focus on what was really important. Her men and this little baby growing inside of her.

Leaning back in the chair, she caressed her abdomen. “So what do we call you? Peanut? Chicklet?” She let loose a shaky sigh, feeling marginally relaxed, and slid the books into the top drawer of her desk. She couldn’t wait a second longer, so it looked like she was telling them over the phone after all. She picked up her phone to call her men, glad she’d waited so that her mind had a chance to catch up with the rest of her. She wanted this baby. Wanted
their
baby.

As she dialed up a conference call so that she could tell them at the same time, she heard a commotion at the entryway, which was currently undergoing reconstruction. She heard Heath and Spencer, talking to Ben and Quinten.

She chuckled and murmured, “Shoulda known they wouldn’t be able to wait. Poor guys.”

She sat up, stuffed a cracker in her mouth, and grabbed her bottle of water as she walked out of her office. She hated that they were worried but couldn’t deny the happy surge that raced through her as she looked forward to telling them the news.

Sounding displeased, Ben asked, “Where is she?”

Heath and Spencer pointed to her as she came into view, amused looks on their faces. Heath had been able to read the titles on the books through the bag when she’d gotten in the car, so she’d had no choice but to confess when he’d asked her outright if she was pregnant. He’d told her that Quinten, and then Ben, had called him while they’d been at the pharmacy, and she’d made him promise to not call back so that she could tell them the good news herself. Heath hadn’t liked the idea, but she’d extracted the promise anyway.

She smiled at the relieved expressions on their faces as they both ran to her, asking questions a mile a minute. Looking around at the attention they were drawing from all the workmen, she shushed them with a giggle and drew them both back to the office.

“Are you okay?” Ben asked as she closed the door behind them.

“
What happened
? Why were you at the hospital?” Quinten asked, inspecting her appearance as if he thought something was wrong with her.

“The hospital? I wasn’t at the hospital.”

Both men looked for a second like she could’ve knocked them over with a feather, and Quinten looked ready to pass out with relief. “You weren’t?”

“No.” Both men immediately took seats and breathed deep sighs. “Why would you think that? I was just at the doctor’s office this morning.”

Ben drew her into his lap and kissed her forehead. “We’ve been searching for you at the hospital. In the emergency room…at the admissions desk…”

“I had errands to run today. I needed to see Rosemary on business, then I came back to Morehead, stopped for lunch, went to the pharmacy—oh!”

“Oh—what? What—oh? Are you okay?” Quinten asked anxiously as he looked into her eyes.

Camilla had to hold back her laughter at the comical questioning look on his face. “Oh…I was at the pharmacy
near
the hospital. You called Heath while I was inside, didn’t you? I told you I would call you back. Heath said you’d tried to call but that the connections were bad. I told him to let me call you myself, so don’t be upset with him.”

“You weren’t at the hospital?”

“No. It was a misunderstanding. Heath said he spoke to you, but he wasn’t sure how much you understood before you were cut off.”

“That explains why my calls didn’t go through,” Ben said. “At the hospital, they told us no one with your name or description had come in. We were scared that something had happened to you.” She could tell by Ben’s expression that he was serious.

“I’m fine, guys. I was dialing your numbers to call you when you walked through the door. I just needed a little time, that’s all.” She rose from Ben’s lap. “I have something for both of you.”

“You do?” they both asked at the same time.

“Yes. Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

Stifling a giggle, as big grins suddenly covered their faces and they complied, she pulled the books out of the desk drawer. She kissed Quinten’s forehead and put his in his hand and then did the same for Ben.

“Open your eyes now.”

Ben pulled the bow off and looked at the book cover. “
The Caveman’s Pregnancy Companion: A Survival Guide for Expectant Fathers.
Holy shit. It’s true?” He looked ready to faint and she sympathized with him.

She nodded as Quinten seemed to collapse in his chair and his eyes got big. The smile that crossed his lips was permanently cast in her memory as he looked at the cover of his book. “
My Boys Can Swim!: The Official Guy’s Guide to Pregnancy.
Hot dayum
!” He grabbed her and kissed her until she saw stars. “You have no idea how damned relieved I am.”

She did have an idea but didn’t know the cause for his extreme relief. She filed that tidbit away until later to ask him about.

“Yes. I am expecting your baby. This is not the timing I would’ve preferred, but it’s happening nonetheless. This means we have to make some adjustments around here.”

Truth was in Ben’s dark eyes when he said, “Whatever you need, sugar. I mean that, too.”

Camilla didn’t doubt for a second that he did.

* * * *

Quinten sighed as he slid into the tub of hot water that evening. They’d filled it up for her and lit candles in the bathroom before undressing her and helping her into the water. Camilla smiled at him from her perch in Ben’s lap and practically purred as Quinten laid her legs over his lap and began massaging her feet.

“I love these itty-bitty feet of yours, baby. And your cute little piggy toes, too.” He gently tugged on each one as she giggled before he went back to rubbing them.

Ben coiled her hair up with one hand and kissed her throat as Camilla lathered the bath puff with bodywash and stroked her arms and her breasts. Quinten closed his eyes for a second and breathed in the lavender scent and allowed his thoughts to settle for a minute. She was pregnant. She’d never had any intention of not carrying the baby to term. It had all been his imagination getting the best of him. An image of Camilla, big with his child, flitted through his mind’s eye, and he smiled. He imagined running his hand over her swelling belly and feeling the baby kick.

“What’s got you smiling so big, Quinten?”

Feeling completely sappy, he told her, and she blushed and got a little weepy-eyed. “That’s so sweet. I hope that’s how you actually feel when you see my body all swelled up. Gonna rub my big belly for me?” She said it in such a seductive tone that all he could imagine was how off-the-charts sexy she would be. His cock even swelled at the thought.

“You know I will. I’ll also rub your feet if they swell.”

“I probably won’t be able to reach them, so I’ll like that, I’m sure. Is there something I can rub for you?” she asked as she gestured with a nod at his cock, which was erect and peeking up out of the bubble bath.

Quinten made an affirmative sound, and she reached out with a slippery hand and stroked his erection as Ben helped her shift on his lap. Judging by her moan, he’d just slid his cock inside her pussy. Quinten enjoyed the show as Ben moved her legs to the outside of his and spread them so she was open wide.

“Mmm, that feels so good, Ben.” She tilted her head back against his shoulder and received his kiss as she kept stroking Quinten’s cock until his balls tingled and he had to fight the urge to come in her hand.